Hello and welcome to the Lost Medals Australia blog. On this blog I will tell the stories of our research and successes in returning lost medals to veterans of their families. I also hope that this blog will provide the best resource for understanding how to research Australian medals. If you need help please contacted me via email at

13 February 2018

This is the next story about assistance to the Police this month.
The initial inquiry I received was from a Senior Constable in the Goulburn Local Area Command. During a vehicle stop he came across the British War Medal and the WWI Victory Medal awarded to Thomas Charles Harward and Australian Service Medal 1945-1975 awarded to John Ernest Chittick.
It didn't take me long to connect the Harward and Chittick names. Harward's wife was Mary Jane Lillian Chittick. They married in the mid 1930s but I couldn't find evidence that they had any children. I provided the Senior Constable all the information that I could get together from the electoral roll and BDM records. He then used this to make the final connection and I received this update overnight.
Chittick was the nephew of Mary and was living with the Chittick's when Thomas died. Chittick has also since died, however, his wife is still alive. She had given the medals to her son but these were stolen in 1993. In the near future they will be collected from the Goulburn Police Station.
The returned medal tally is now 2205.

12 February 2018

February seems to be the month to help the police. This is the forth bit of research I've done this month that involves medals that have been recovered after a theft or car search. This time the call for assistance came from the Lake Illawarra Police Station.
They had come across a WWI Victory medal awarded to 3155 John William Pincham. John went on to serve in WWII. He married Elma in 1931 and had four children. John died in 1957; Elma lived until 2002.
From the family information I was able to provide, the police contacted John's great grand daughter and arranged for the medal to be returned.
The returned medal tally is now 2203.

11 February 2018

Not much surprises me anymore when is comes to how medals are lost and found. Although I did wonder how this medal was found in Perth and the most recent information, from 2013, that I found about the recipient was that he lived in Orange, NSW.
The search started with an email from Dion of the Perth Ice Works who told me that one of the company drivers found it on a street. This is a National Medal awarded to Robert Gordon Shiel. I found a Bob Shiel living in Orange and fortunately he was included on an Ancestry family tree. A message to the owner soon got a reply from Bob. I had the right person.
Bob, who now lives in Perth, tells me that his Long Service Medal and National Medal were stolen on Australia Day. Bob received these medals for his time with the Rural Fire Service.
The returned medal tally is now 2202.